Enterprise Technology Review: Your Peace of Mind Assessment
The DX Roadmap series is produced by Victoria Fide Marketing with input and oversight from our leadership team and industry SMEs.
Table of Contents
Last week, we explored the importance of identifying your current location before charting a course to your desired destination. We discussed how conducting an Enterprise Process Review could help you understand and document the current state of your organization’s processes, providing you with valuable insights into plotting the best path from point A to point B.
Next, using the analogy of preparing your vehicle for a road trip, you need to trust that your vehicle is able to transport you safely to your desired destination. That is, you need to know if your systems and infrastructure are robust, healthy, and secure enough to support your digital transformation (DX) endeavors. One way to perform this diagnostic check is to undergo an Enterprise Technology Review.
In this article, we will unpack the purpose of the Enterprise Technology Review, what questions to ask throughout the review, and how it will impact the future and security of your DX journey. This review will illuminate the strengths and weaknesses within your current technological systems and practices, providing a clear view on what needs to be addressed before embarking on your transformational road trip.
Are you ready? Let’s pop the hood and take a look at the technology that makes your organization tick.
Understanding the Enterprise Technology Landscape
In today’s era, enterprises rely on a variety of technologies, spanning from fundamental legacy systems to cutting-edge solutions driving innovation and competitiveness. This includes hardware like servers, workstations, and networking gear, as well as software solutions such as ERP systems, CRM tools, data analytics suites, and other platforms vital to business operations.
The Enterprise Technology Review process involves a systematic examination of all technological assets, IT infrastructure, system health, key policies, and security. Think of this technology assessment like the 120-Point Peace of Mind Vehicle Assessment offered by your local Pep Boys©, designed to provide an accurate picture of all your vehicle’s major systems and common problem areas.
This thorough assessment is critical, as it exposes security risks, and identifies whether your current systems can support your strategic business goals. Moreover, a systematic review provides decision-makers with insights on necessary upgrades, security gaps, and profitable technology investments. Undertaking this diagnostic check will prepare you to navigate the risks and complexities associated with digital transformation, increasing your odds of success and level of effectiveness.
It is important to note that this is not the time to make decisions in response to the information that you may uncover – the purpose of this review is simply to gather and document the current state of the organization’s technology, policies, and security to enable data-driven decisions later.
At the conclusion of the Enterprise Technology Review, a high-level technical architecture diagram along with a comprehensive enterprise technology report will be helpful in determining organizational priorities. For example, addressing major security concerns or replacing outdated, underperforming systems should precede incorporating new transformative technologies.
In the following sections, we will walk you through the specifics of how to conduct an effective review, the key areas of focus, and how to leverage the results for your organization’s digital journey.
Behind the Screens: Identifying IT Roles & Responsibilities
As crucial as technology is, it’s equally vital to comprehend the people driving the technology within your IT department. Take into account the following aspects:
- Department Structure: Identify the leaders who set strategic direction and the administrators who handle day-to-day operations. You will need to have a clear picture of each employee and their role within the IT department.
- Technical Expertise: Assess the variety of skillsets and capabilities, including any specialty areas such as network engineering, software development, cybersecurity, and data management. Evaluate how effectively the IT staff’s skill sets match the current and future technological requirements.
- Support and Maintenance: Understand the support structure in place, evaluating both in-house capabilities and external support services. Determine if the current level of support is adequate for maintaining operations and whether it can adapt to new systems introduced through the transformation.
By carefully considering these areas, you can better understand whether your IT department is ready to support and lead the digital transformation, or if there are capability gaps that need closing—be it through hiring, training, or partnering with specialized service providers.
Running Diagnostics: Assessing Infrastructure, Systems, & Integrations
A thorough understanding of your organization’s infrastructure is similar to assessing the state of your vehicle. In this stage of the Enterprise Technology Review, you will evaluate the robustness of your company’s existing infrastructure, the complexity and cohesiveness of its systems, and the effectiveness of integrations that allow your business to operate seamlessly.
Review Existing System and Infrastructure Documentation
Begin with a comprehensive inventory of the organization’s physical and virtual network resources— make a list of systems, all servers, and all locations. Include connections between locations, and a list of systems used by location. Do you utilize cloud services or are you on-prem? What directory service are you employing to manage access to applications and resources?
Application Architecture
Review and compile a list of existing custom applications and their documentation. Documenting the custom applications is essential to understanding how they fit into the overall system, and ensures compatibility when evaluating potential new technologies. Additionally, make a list of integrations by system; this will help identify any necessary updates or replacements that may need to be made in the future.
Application Lifecycle Management & Dev Ops Practices
If you have custom software, evaluate how it is created and managed within your organization. Are development practices up to date with industry standards, and are they conducive to producing high-quality, secure software? What is the process for managing and maintaining it? What is the level of integration between development and operations teams? Examine the automation tools, continuous integration and delivery processes, and monitoring systems in place to optimize the software development lifecycle.
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Vital Signs: Monitoring System Health, Performance, & Limitations
After assessing the nuts and bolts of your infrastructure and systems, next you will need to evaluate your system health. During this part of the review, the focus should be on evaluating system performance and identifying limitations that could potentially impede business operations or growth. This requires a methodical inspection of both software and hardware components to ascertain their effectiveness and efficiency in meeting the current and projected needs of the organization.
Review Software & Hardware Performance
Examine the performance metrics of your system’s software and hardware. Do the processing power, memory utilization, and storage capabilities meet the requirements of your daily operations? Do users complain about the speed, especially during certain times of the day? Consider conducting stress tests to evaluate how your system performs under peak loads, and identify any anomalies that may suggest potential issues.
Identify System Limitations
Understanding the limitations within your system is crucial to ensuring seamless operations. This includes:
- User Limits: Assess whether the current systems support the number of concurrent users required by your business and whether scalability is an option for growing user bases. Does the system support multi-users, or does it have a user limit? Does the performance lag when users are added?
- Legacy System Constraints: Legacy systems can often be inflexible and may not integrate well with modern technologies. Determine any limitations these systems pose and whether they are due for an upgrade or replacement.
- Storage Capacity: Evaluate the storage infrastructure to ensure there is an adequate amount for current data and future growth. Is the storage nearly maxed out? Are there options for expanding the storage? Look for constraints that may arise from storage limits, such as slow data retrieval times or insufficient backup capabilities.
Through a detailed analysis of system health, businesses can preemptively address issues that may lead to downtime, inefficiencies, or setbacks throughout your DX journey.
Uncovering Strengths and Gaps with an In-Depth Policy Analysis
An exhaustive evaluation of existing IT policies is instrumental in safeguarding the integrity of an organization’s data and operations. This segment of the Enterprise Technology Review takes a look at key IT policies and plans, including business continuity and disaster recovery plans. The goal is to identify any potential gaps or weaknesses that need to be addressed as part of the digital transformation process.
IT Policies & Plans
Here are a few policies you might have that will need to be reviewed. This is not an exhaustive list, but rather a starting point to get you thinking about your own company and what policies are in place.
- Data Governance Policy: How are you categorizing data and determining who has access to what data? How is the data being stored and protected?
- Change Management Policy: What framework do you have for managing change in your IT environment to minimize disruptions?
- Device/Hardware Policy: What devices do you provide for your employees? What policy is in place to manage users using their own devices?
Business Continuity Plan
The continuity of business operations in the face of disruptive events is a testament to a well-structured IT framework. Analyze the business continuity plan, focusing on the procedures outlined for data backup, system redundancies, and infrastructure resilience. Furthermore, detail the disaster recovery process, essential for rapid restoration of IT functions, and evaluate any defense mechanisms against specific threats like ransomware attacks. A robust plan should articulate clearly defined roles, responsibilities, and timelines to minimize downtime and maintain operational momentum irrespective of the circumstances.
A High-Level Security Review: Assessing Your Digital Armor
In an era where data breaches are both costly and increasingly common, a meticulous security review is an indispensable component of any organization’s risk management strategy. Undertaking a significant digital transformation without adequate security policies in place is a recipe for disaster, and can result in severe financial and reputational damage. This section will probe deeper into your security posture through pertinent questions that shed light on critical security practices and policies.
Here is a list of things to question and consider during your high-level security review:
- Firewall Protection Assessment
- Malware & Antivirus Protection
- Password Policy Analysis
- Access Control Management
- Authentication
Conducting this high-level Q&A security audit is pivotal for identifying vulnerabilities and strengthening your security-specific policies. Failure to address these could result in significant financial and reputational damage. It is important to reiterate that now is not the time to make decisions based on the review; it is simply a time to gather information so you can make data-informed decisions that are best for your organization’s abilities, priorities, goals, and limitations.
Key Takeaways and Next Steps for Your DX Journey
Before embarking on a digital transformational journey, you need to know if your enterprise technology is equipped to get you to your destination. The question you should keep in mind throughout the Enterprise Technology Review is, “Are there any immediate, short-term, or long-term crises on the horizon due to the security, health, and state of our systems?” This extensive review is designed to inform and shape your organizational priorities so you can mitigate these risks, remove technological barriers, and pave the way toward a more streamlined future.
The steps covered in this review are methodical and deliberate:
- Roles and Responsibilities: Ensuring clear delineation and understanding of the duties within your IT infrastructure.
- Infrastructure, Systems & Integrations: Assessing the current state and interconnectivity of your technology systems.
- System Health: Evaluating the performance and stability of your IT systems to ensure they support business operations efficiently.
- Key Policies and Procedures: Reviewing the governance around technology use within your organization to safeguard compliance and efficiency.
- Security: Conducting a thorough audit of your security stance to identify weaknesses and bolster your defenses against cyber threats.
By approaching each of these areas with honesty, curiosity, and precision, you can make well-informed decisions regarding the future health and state of your company, from technology investments to increased cybersecurity measures. It sets the stage for identifying pivotal transformational opportunities and guides strategic resource allocation, allowing you to make decisions that align with long-term business goals.
The Enterprise Technology Review is a significant undertaking. If you seek expert analysis or wish to deepen your technological capabilities, consider consulting cybersecurity and IT governance professionals. At Victoria Fide, we conduct Enterprise Technology Reviews as part of our Process for Transformational Change, and our primary focus is empowering companies to succeed in using technology to bring positive, transformational change.
Remember, the Enterprise Technology Review is just one cog in the wheel when it comes to digital transformation. Check out our services for more information on how to succeed in digital transformation, and make sure to subscribe and come back next week to learn how to conduct an Organizational Maturity Assessment and why it is vital for mitigating organizational risk associated with digital transformation.
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